VIJAY PRASHAD examines why in 2018 Washington started to take an increasingly belligerent stance towards ‘near peer rivals’ – Russa and China – with far-reaching geopolitical effects
Ghostwatch - when the BBC gave viewers a mass supernatural freakout
STEPHEN ARNELL remembers 32 years ago when a spooky hoax by Auntie Beeb went a step too far
ROGER McKENZIE looks back 60 years to the assassination of Malcolm X, whose message that black people have worth resonated so strongly with him growing up in Walsall in the 1980s
At least 1.5 million tons of crude oil has been spilt in the Niger Delta since 1958, writes PAVAN KULKANI
ANDREW MURRAY surveys a quaking continent whose leaders have no idea how to respond to an openly contemptuous United States
Based on his experience of Haringey Council Councillor MARK BLAKE believes only a radical policy rethink will reconnect councils with the alienated constituencies they are supposed to serve
Last week the CPUSA launched a new Rapid Response project aimed at mobilising a popular resistance to policies enacted by the new government. CAMERON HARRISON explains
YOU might have noticed that BBC appears to be undergoing something of a renaissance of occult-themed shows, with Uncanny, Paranormal, Myth Country and, most recently, Hauntings all appearing on our screens in the last year or so.
Certainly it’s a distinct comeback from the events of 32 years ago, when the corporation gave viewers a uniquely spooky experience, after which it seemed for decades similar shows were pre-emptively exorcised by Auntie.
Some would say a shame that after Labour’s election victory, Tory revenants such as director-general Tim Davie, sinister “active agent” (E Maitlis) Robbie Gibb, and on-air fellow-travellers Fiona Bruce and Laura (“Boris Johnson ate my homework”) Kuenssberg weren’t similarly cast out, perhaps to haunt the corridors of equally creepy GB News.
More from this author
STEPHEN ARNELL sees parallels between the US tech billionaire and HG Wells’s literary creation
David Lynch’s classic 1980 film The Elephant Man has some cruel parallels with Britain in 2025, argues STEPHEN ARNELL
Between Musk’s bizarre British power grab and Trump’s overtly corporate agenda, modern robber barons face a growing backlash — and history shows how determined leaders can tame ultra-rich excess, writes STEPHEN ARNELL
There is no denying Thomas Cromwell's positive and progressive impact on English politics, argues STEPHEN ARNELL
Similar stories
How the BBC’s SAS: Rogue Heroes is pure public schoolboy fantasy – STEPHEN ARNELL examines the real founder of the Special Air Service, aristocrat Archibald David Stirling
Auntie’s offices are still packed to the rafters with private school-educated appointees, says STEPHEN ARNELL
Most phenomena have an explanation, writes the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY, but occasionally ‘anomalous’ events have led to new scientific understanding
Scotland's finest, hippie memorabilia and the best Americana of 2024 so far: reviews of Jack Bruce, Music from Laurel Canyon, and Dylan LeBlanc